Apparatus for controlling the passage of wire through a sand pan



Nov. 21, 1950 c. D. JOHNSON 2,531,132

APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING THE PASSAGE 0F WIRE mover-1 'A SAND PAN Filed April 22. 1949 mm E; Jdmsmz Patented Nov. 21, 1956 APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING THE PAS- SAGE F WIRE THROUGH A SAND PAN Charles D. Johnson, Worcester, Mass, assignor to Johnson Steel & Wire Company, Inc., Worcester, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Application April 22, 1949, Serial No. 88,922

7 Claims.

The present invention relates to apparatus for controlling the passage of wire through a sand pan, such as is commonly employed for cleaning the surface of moving wire after it leaves a bath of molten metal, in the course of processing the wire. The object of the invention is to provide improved apparatus of the above-indicated character, which will effectively prevent the accumulation, or solidification, of the bath metal within the sand to such an extent that some of the metal will be pulled along with the wire as the latter leaves the pan.

The above and other advantageous features of my invention will hereinafter more fully appear from the following description, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the apparatus of the present invention as applied to a sand pan which is employed in connectionwith the heat treatment of wire.

Fig. 2 is a plan view, on an enlarged scale, of the sand pan shown in Fig. l, with its associated wire lifting mechanism.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view through the sand pan, along the line 3-;-l of Fig. 2, with the lower portion of the mechanism in end elevation.

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view along the line 4 l of Fig. 2, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Referring first to Fig. l, the apparatus of the present invention is shown, for purposes of illustration, as being applied to a sand pan P that is employed in connection with a conventional arrangement for heat treating wire, wherein wire W is moved through a receptacl l containing a bath 2 of molten lead, in the direction of the arrow. The bath 2 is maintained at the desired temperature for heat treating the wire W, usually from 1500 to 2000 F., at which temperature the lead of the bath 2 is in an extremely fluid condition. Upon leaving the receptacle I, the heated wire W passes through a second receptacle 3 also containing a lead bath t maintained at a temperature much lower than the temperature of the bath 2, and usually in the neighborhood of from 500 to 1000 F.

The purpose of the second bath 6 is to rapidly quench or cool the wire W, and reduce its temperature to a point where the wire W can be subsequently handled. For best results, the quenching bath 4 is in a semifluid or mushy state, so that heat is rapidlyextracted from the wire as it passes through the bath, to give the desired quenchin fi tan t ere y ia at gd i ed physical properties in the wire, due to rapid heating and cooling of the same. As the wire W leaves the quenching bath 4, it passes upwardly beneath a sinker 5 into the pan P which contains coarse sand S, with the bottom 5 of the pan P being inclined upwardly from one end of the quenching bath receptacle 3.

The quenched Wire W is moved through the sand pan P over a roll I mounted beyond the pan, and in passing through the sand S, any lead adhering to the wire W tends to be removed by the scraping action of the particles of sand S, so that the wire W will leave the roll I in a relatively clean condition, with substantially no lead adhering thereto. As the lead is removed from the Wire W by the scraping action of the sand 8, it tends to flow back into the receptacle 3 because of the downward inclination of the bottom 6 of the pan P, the lower end of which overhangs the righthand end wall 3a of the receptacle 3. However, it has been found that lead removed from the wire W at any considerable distance from the receptacle 3 will have cooled to such an extent that it will not flow back freely through the sand S; as a result of which, cooled lead will tend to solidify and accumulate around the wire W in a more or less solid mass. When the lead does 001- lect at any one point, due to continued passage of the wire W, the sand S in the pan P is no longer capable of cleaning the wire thoroughly, so that the cooled wire W coming from the roll 1 will exhibit streaks of lead, or have separate particles of lead adhering thereto.

The above-described effect is known as lead pulling, and when the effect becomes very pronounced, the only way in which it can be overcome is to renew the sand S in the pan P, in order to get rid of the accumulation of lead therein, or'

to manually agitate the sand where the lead has gathered, by means of a hand tool. Therefore, when lead pulling occurs, it has been heretofore necessaryto either interrupt the heat treating process while the sand S is being renewed in the pan P, or to run the risk ofbreaking or snarling the moving wire while agitating the sand Where the lead has gathered.

As previously pointed out, the object of the present invention is to provide means for positively preventing the gathering of lead at any one point in the sand pan P by bodily shifting the wire W as it moves through the sand S. As will later appear, such shifting of the wire W has the effect of continuously bringing fresh particles of sand incontact with the moving wire W, so that the lead never has a chance to gather at any one point, and will flow freely back into the receptacle 3 as it is removed from the wire W by the scraping action of the particles of sand S.

As best shown in Figs. 2 and 4, the arrangement for shifting the wire W consists of a bar 8 extending across the open top of the sand pan P near its upper end, with the bar 8 providing downwardly extending arms 9 for rotatably supporting between them a roll it which is disposed just above the bottom 6 of the pan P when the parts of the mechanism occupy their full-line positions. The roll l provides a number of grooves II extending around the surface thereof, which grooves II are adapted to receive any desired number of wires W that are being subjected to heat treatment by passage through the lead baths 2 and 4, it being customary to process a number of wires simultaneously while maintaining the wires in parallel relation in passing through the baths and through the'sandpan P, as shown in Fig. 2.

The bar 8 extends at either end beyond. the; longitudinal sides of the pan P, and the bar it is attached at its ends to slides l 2 that are vertically movable in suitable tracks 13. mounted on frame members P which, support the sand pa-n P in. aninclined position above the end wall to of the lead receptacle 3. Each. slide l2,

carries av roll l4 bearing. on the surface of a cam l5, inthe form of a circular disk, that, is mounted eccentrically on a shaft l-Gthat extends beneath the pan P and. is rotatably. mounted in bearings ll provided on the inside of the tracks 13. Therefore, the entire assembly, of parts represented by theroll ii), the bar 8,. and the slides i2, is adapted. to be supported by the. rolls 1.4. bearing on. the cams IEQwith, the slides i2 being guidedin. the tracks [3.1 by pins l8 movable in slots slides I2 The cams. i5iare rigidly. secured to-the shaft.

With t epart o c pyi he il r nc ositi of Figs. 3 and 4, all of the wires are moving through the sand Sin the pan P ina substan tially straight line between the roll fi' and the point where the wires W. leave the quenching bath beneath the right handsinker 5 which is in theform of agroovedbarthgt is submerged beneath thesurface of the lead hath, 2. particularmornent when the rolls I l on the slides l2 occupy their, lowermost positiom thewires W;

are traveling through the sand 6 in the. pan P in a direction which is slightly inclined upwardly with respect to the bottom 6 of the pan P. However, as the cams l5 rotate withthe shaft Hi from the position of Fig. 3, the slides J2 and bar 8, will slowly move upwardly to cause the roll IE3 to lift, all of the wires W; with all -of the wires being shifted bodily within the sand Suntil they reach the dotted-line position of Fig. 3

which corresponds to, the upper limit of the 'inovement'ofthe slides l2 by the cams I5: As

l9 provided in "the,

will. havean up and down At the soon as the wires W reach their dotted-line position, they will immediately start to move downwardly through the sand to the full-line position near the bottom 6 of the pan P, and obviously'this shifting movement of the wires through the sand will continue at a slow measured rate as long as the shaft I6- is driven by themotor 20..

It will be apparent from a consideration of Fig. 3, that the amplitude of the shifting movement of a wire W with reference to a fixed point representedby the sinker 5, increases in direct proportion to the distance between the sinker 5 and the wire-lifting roll l0. Consequently, while the shifting of the wire is very slight where it leaves the sinker 5 and enters the sand pan P, with the lead in a soft condition, the shifting increases progressively toward the roll 1, so that by the time the lead starts to cool appreciably, it has reached a zone wherein shifting of the wire, W and consequent agitation of the sand-S is ata maximum.

As a result of the above-described bodilyshifting of all of the wiresv W simultaneously with their passage through the sand pan P, it has been found that the lead pulling previously, referred to, is eliminated, and that the wires. W will pass off the roll 7 substantially. free of lead, This results in an extremely uniform produc-.-- tion of clean wire, without requiring any manual operations such as have beeenheretofore in-,-' volved in changing the sand S in the pan. P, or in agitating the sandSby meansofa hand tool, with; the chanceof breaking or snarlingv the. moving wire.

I claim:

1. Apparatus of. the class described comprising in combination, a, sand pan having oneend. thereof located, adjacent to a bath of molten, metal, means for moving wire lengthwise through the sand in. said pan after leaving. said metal bath, and means for laterally shifting. said. wire. within the sand simultaneously with lengthwisev movement of the wire therethrough.

2. Apparatus of the class described comprise ing in combination, a. sand pan having oneend thereof located adjacent to a bath of molten, metal, means for moving wire-lengthwise. through the sand in ,said panw after leaving said metal. bath, means for supporting the wire independently ofv the panat the endopposite to said metal bath, andmeans for changing the posi. tion, of saidwire supporting means with respect, to they bottom of the pan, as the wire. moves. lengthwise through the sand. therein.

3., Apparatus of the class described comprising, in combination, a sand panhavingone. end theme:- of located, adjacent to. a bath of molten metaL, means for movingwire lengthwise throughthe, sand in said panafter leaving said metal b.ath,, a member extendingtransversely across said-pan. over which thewire passes in its travel through. the sand, and'meansfor imparting; a reciproca-- tor-y. movement to said member for shifting thet wire within the sand simultaneously with. its; lengthwise travel therethrough;

4. Apparatus of the class described comprising; in combination, a sand pan having one end thereoflocated adjacent to a bath of molten metal means for moving wire-lengthwise through'thez sand in said pan after leaving said metal bath, a member extending transversely across the pan at the endopposite to the metal bath, for freely supporting; the wire adjacent to whereitleaves saidpan; and: means for movingsaid WirfiSLlpwporting member up and down with respect to the bottom of the pan simultaneously with lengthwise movement of the wire over said member.

5. In apparatus for controlling the passage of wire through a stationary pan containing a mass of sand, a member over which the wire passes while embedded in the sand, and means for imparting a reciprocatory movement to said memher for laterally shifting said wire within the sand simultaneously with its lengthwise movement therethrough.

6. In apparatus for controlling the passage of wire through a stationary pan containing a mass of sand, a member extending above the open top of said pan for supporting a guide over which the wire passes while embedded in the sand in its lengthwise travel through the pan, and means for imparting a reciprocatory movement to said member for raising and lowering said wire guide within the sand simultaneously with the lengthwise passage of the wire over said guide.

7. In apparatus for controlling the passage of Wire through a stationary pan containing a mass of sand, means for supporting said pan with its bottom inclined with respect to the horizontal, a rotatably driven shaft extending under the raised end of said pan, a cam mounted on said shaft, a slide extending vertically at one side of said pan for receiving a reciprocatory movement from rotation of the cam on said shaft, a member carried by said slide extending across the open top of said pan and a wire guide supported by said cross member below the surface of the sand for laterally shifting said wire within the sand simultaneously with its lengthwise movement therethrough.

CHARLES D.'JOHNSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 241,721 Roberts May 17, 1881 801,403 Rupley Oct. 10, 1905 

